Last night the WSJ reported that Yahoo will spend an estimated $75 million to $85 million on a campaign to promote itself and its homepage. The initial TV spot (below) is critical of Google and sets itself up in opposition to the search engine as a more desirable homepage because it does more stuff. (see […]
Google was hoping that the announcement of Apple’s iAd program would help with approval of the AdMob acquisition at the FTC. However that doesn’t seem to be the case; Bloomberg reported on Friday that the FTC seemed poised to try and block the deal: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff is urging the filing of […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Answers Hits One Billion Answers Yahoo Answers — by far the largest answer search engine on the web — says it passed the one billion answer mark within the past […]
Google has bought BumpTop, a company that makes 3-D desktop UIs for the PC (Windows and Mac). The purchase amount was not disclosed of course, although the company had only raised a small amount of investor cash, less than $2 million. So figure the acquisition was less than $20 million — probably more like $10 […]
In March Google began testing a mobile AdWords interface so advertisers can manage their search ad campaigns on Android, iPhone, and Palm Pre devices. Google announced that this feature is now available to all advertisers who have one of the three type of devices listed above. Google also posted a video demo of the features […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Last Call For Speakers For SMX Advanced We’ve got the agenda for SMX Advanced mostly finalized, still have a few openings. Interested in speaking? Here are the sessions where we’re still […]
Another day, another new and/or improved search tool from Google. Yesterday it was an improved mobile version of Place Pages, and today’s announcement is an upgrade to Google’s mobile image search for iPhones and Android devices. The changes include showing square thumbnails to maximize the number that appear after a search, swipe-based navigation (like iPhone […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google To Phase Out Old Keyword Tool In Exchange For New Version If you try to access Google’s external keyword tool, you may notice that you are sent to the new […]
Siri describes itself not as a “mobile search tool,” as I have in the headline, but rather as a “virtual personal assistant.” The company went public with its technology and iPhone app just a few months ago and now Apple has reportedly acquired it for an undisclosed sum that is likely more than $50 million […]
The clever folks in Redmond (aided by their attorneys) appear to have found a way to gain “licensing revenue” from Android phones. That’s right. Android the OS is “free,” and that was seen, early on, as a competitive advantage vs. Windows Mobile, which had exacted a price of up to $15 dollars per unit from […]
Google has announced that its Place Pages now come in a mobile version. Users of Android-powered mobile devices and iPhone/iPod Touch users should be able to see the new mobile place pages now. They’re quite similar to what you’re used to seeing in Google Maps, with business/place information, a collection of reviews, images, and so […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How Do Americans Access Government Data? Search Engines. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has issued a new report about how Americans access government information. They found that 82% of […]
Yahoo announced this morning that its services will be pre-loaded on millions of Samsung phones worldwide. The new deal expands a relationship between the companies that began in 2007. Samsung is the second largest handset maker in the world, by unit sales, according to hardware tracking firm Gartner. Samsung is the third largest handset maker […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google On Break Up: Cut Us In Half, They’d Demand Quarters Google isn’t mincing words in response to reports yesterday that a consumer advocacy group thinks the government should break up […]
In his iPhone OS 4 preview keynote last Thursday Apple CEO Steve Jobs made the following provocative (some would argue inflammatory) statement about search on mobile phones: On the desktop search is where it’s at; that’s where the money is. But on a mobile device search hasn’t happened. Search is not where it’s at, people […]
No FTC review here: Google has acquired Plink a UK-based startup that offers specialized visual search (or augmented reality [sort of]) for art. You take a picture of an artwork or object d’art and information appears about the artist and/or the piece. As the site makes clear, PlinkArt was simply the first in an intended […]
Google has now incorporated universal search in Google Suggest for mobile search. The company did this on the PC last year. In selected situations this allows users to get “answers” in the Suggest drop-down options menu rather than waiting for a SERP. Here’s “weather” on the PC and on mobile for example: There’s more user […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 3 Ways To Use Google’s Search Results For Keyword Research Years ago, on a planet far far away, people used to optimize for keyword density. But as relevancy algorithms have improved […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report: Some Google ‘Hot Topic’ Searches Return 90% Malicious Links A blog post from cloud security company Zscaler suggests that some Google searches recently returned results with 90% malicious links, and […]
ComScore’s quarterly look at the U.S. mobile platform is out and it includes good news for Google. The numbers show that Google’s Android platform has grown by 236% between November 2009 and February 2010, from 3.8% market share to 9%. The comScore report measures current mobile subscribers in the U.S. that are 13-years-old and older. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SearchWeek: April 5, 2010 Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are […]
Google announced a bunch of its services iPad-ready: YouTube (sans Flash), GMail, Maps and Voice Search. And Google also says in the same blog post, “As with Mac computers and the iPhone, you’ll find Google Search in the top right corner of Safari.” So it would appear then that Google will be the “default” search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Maps Launches Foursquare Everywhere, World Tour & Oodle Rental Apps Bing Maps is keeping busy at the Where 2.0 conference today, making several announcements and product rollouts. Here’s a rundown […]
Google has now enabled access to the AdWords dashboard and other features for smartphone users. It’s configurable and provides on-the-go access to account data and stats. The new mobile interface is currently available for iPhone, Android and Palm/WebOS users. You can access AdWords for Mobile by visiting https://adwords.google.com/dashboard/Dashboard on your mobile browser. There’s more discussion, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Does CEO Coffee Summit Equal Détente For Apple, Google? Gizmodo shows amazing pictures of Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt having coffee in a public place in Palo Alto, CA. […]
Gizmodo shows amazing pictures of Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt having coffee in a public place in Palo Alto, CA. Here is one of the shots from the encounter, which reportedly ended or moved when a crowd started gathering: While Apple and Google were close partners and even collaborators for several years Google’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Finally Welcome To Home-Based & Service-Based Businesses Google Maps is rolling out what it hopes will be a solution to one of the Local Business Center’s longtime shortcomings: the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google-Viacom Court Documents Out; Google Says Viacom ‘Secretly’ Uploaded Videos The three-year-old lawsuit in which Viacom is seeking $1 billion from Google over copyrighted videos on YouTube moved a step forward […]
Google has pushed out a maps app update for Android based mobile devices. The new Google Maps Mobile app, version 4.1 for Android has updated the interface and made some feature changes to help improve usability. The changes include: Revised search results page so everything is accessible on a single page. You can now swipe […]
Following up initial reports that came out last week, the New York Times offers more details today about Google’s plans to gain a stronger foothold in our living rooms via what the paper is calling Google TV. Postscript: See this article, FAQ: What We Know So Far About Google TV, for more information about the […]
Google announced today that the Nexus One handset is now compatible with the 3G networks of AT&T in the US and Rogers Wireless in Canada. A CDMA version (for Verizon) is coming soon. However the phones are unsubsidized (no contract) so you’ll pay full price — unless buying from original Nexus One carrier T-mobile. The […]
During an investor and financial analyst webcast yesterday Google’s Vic Gundotra said that an “increasingly large” number of advertisers were doing mobile campaigns and that there was a “dramatic amount of interest” in mobile among those not yet advertising in mobile. Much of the webcast was devoted to demonstrating Google mobile products and initiatives and […]
Over the weekend the New York Times ran an article that summarized and largely substantiated all the rumor and innuendo about the increasingly contentious relationship between Apple and Google. A hot topic on Techmeme over the weekend, the following excerpt captures the essence of the piece: While the discord between Apple and Google is in […]
Yesterday I speculated about whether Google would be able to have it both ways: to remain in the Chinese search market and still live up to its bold proclamation that it would no longer comply with Chinese government censorship rules. The Chinese, all along, have given no indication that they intend to change their hard-line […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Goes Live With “In-Stock, Nearby” Mobile Shopping In the range of thigs discussed at Google’s Search Evolution event in December Engineering VP Vic Gundotra demonstrated mobile shopping with real-time inventory […]
In the range of thigs discussed at Google’s Search Evolution event in December Engineering VP Vic Gundotra demonstrated mobile shopping with real-time inventory information. Now Google has announced that product is live. Google is working with a limited number of retailers for the time being but is inviting others to apply to become part of […]
In my discussion yesterday of the comScore search data I neglected to point out (as GigaOm has) that Facebook saw 10 percent search query growth in the past month. That’s significant and it validates an argument I’ve long made that Facebook could turn out to be a meaningful player in search, which would in turn […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: comScore: Android Shows Strength As Mobile Web Usage Grows Metrics firm comScore released some new quarterly mobile data that shows strong growth for Android handsets in the US and an increase […]
Metrics firm comScore released some new quarterly mobile data that shows strong growth for Android handsets in the US and an increase in mobile web usage: RIM showed modest growth while the iPhone’s growth, according to these figures, flattened. Meanwhile WinMo and Palm lost ground. Of course with the advent of Windows Mobile 7 and […]
Collecta has just announced the launch of a mobile version of its real-time search engine. The mobile site is available at m.collecta.com. Like it main site, Collecta mobile includes real-time news, photos, and status updates from more than 10 million content sources — from Twitter to Flickr and CNN and blogs. The mobile site is […]